Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Kurt Engelbrecht, aka kengelbr, and is a view of downtown look west.”

Kurt says “I visited Des Moines for five days and only had a short time for a photo walk. With the river, capitol, and downtown area, Des Moines had many good photo opportunities, and it would have been nice if I had some more time there. This photo was taken near sunrise just after a rain shower.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

I’ve added some new photos to the gallery to show off downtown during the summer time. I hope you enjoy!

When I first heard that my two roommates were planning to move downtown, I was not looking forward to the new living arrangements. My familiarity among apartment dwellings had previously involved carpeting, divided rooms, and balconies that overlook the middle of nothing. I was stubbornly against the idea of moving into an open loft in a busy area with no outside spot to soak in the sunshine, but it’s nigh impossible trying to talk young DINKs (double income, no kids) out of their swanky idealism and artistic ambitions. Try as I might, they would not be reasoned with, and I presently find myself in a large loft on 10^th Street.

Like most beings, I fear the unfamiliar. I thought I’d miss my privacy, soft flooring, and sunshine. It was tough at first, but my paws have adjusted well to the concrete terrain. My worries of not getting ample sunshine have been put to rest. The large windows and 13-foot high ceilings have provided me with a luxurious sunbath, even in cold weather.

I’ve come to look forward to my morning saucer of tea while looking down upon the motley collection of humans heading off to work or out for the morning constitutional with their canine companions. A good view is crucial to a cat who prefers the indoors. I now feel connected to my surroundings with an energy I’ve never felt before. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve grown quite content with my life as an urban cat.

In case you are not aware, the Downtown Art Center will be closing up in a few weeks for good. This will be a shame, especially for downtown. When the current exhibition of Tara Donovan’s works ends on September 13, 2009, the downtown location will be closed for good.

A little background on the downtown location from the the Des Moines Art Center’s website. The downtown location is the centerpiece of Wells Fargo Financial’s longtime commitment to the arts in Central Iowa. The Art Center Downtown, a branch of the highly regarded Des Moines Art Center, opened in 2003 when Wells Fargo Financial completed construction of its SkyView building.

In addition to providing the 5,500 square foot gallery space without charge to the Art Center, Wells Fargo Financial provides services and covers some of the museum’s operating costs. Wells Fargo Financial also opens its facilities to groups using the Art Center, including numerous tours by school children who often eat their lunches in the company’s break room.

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Ok, so I was working on an art piece and I got to wondering a couple of things. One, unlike most cities in the US and even here in Iowa, the City of Des Moines is missing a “Main Street”. We have none downtown named “Main Street”. Secondly, does anyone have any stories or ideas on where the names of our downtown streets came from?

And lastly, one of my pet peeves with downtown Des Moines, that I think confuses the hell out of most new comers or visitors is the non-consistency in the the use of the word “street” or “avenue”. Everywhere else I’ve lived in the US, it seems as it is standard practice for “Avenues” to run North-South and “Streets” to run East-West. But downtown, the following are just the North-South routes through the Core that have no consistency: 2nd Avenue, 3rd Street, 4th Street, 5th Street, 6th Avenue, 7th Street, 8th Street, 9th Street. And then to our East-West routes we have have: Grand Avenue, Locust Street, Walnut Street, Court Avenue.

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Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture is one of my very own. I took this of the Davis-Brown Tower last year and entered it into the 70th Annual Iowa State Fair Photography competition.

This was the first year I had ever entered the competition, and had always wanted to before, so I entered four photos. The first one of the Davis-Brown Tower won 3rd place in the Iowa Architecture Division. I also had another one, the photo below shown, it was entered into the Anything Goes! division. This year’s state fair reported a record breaking 4,577 entries, as you can see Iowan’s love photography and why not, we have such a beautiful city and state to photograph.

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It appears that works put down some sod this week at the east end of the park. Things are beginning to show a wrapping up and a countdown to completion. I can’t wait, this is a huge amenity for us downtown dwellers to go walking through every evening.

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Continuing on our State Fair theme, here are some of this year’s commercials.

Here are some photos I took while attending the fair on Sunday.

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Cyn Thia, aka thiajmarie, and titled “Reflecting on Des Moines.”

She says “I was in Des Moines to visit my best friend. A beautiful city, with a wonderful variety of photographic opportunities. I will definitely be back!!!!”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

You know I’m a gadget geek, especially when it comes to my iPhone apps, so when I saw this one, I just had to ask when the City of Des Moines could get this going?

Did you know that if you live in New York City, you can dial one #, NYC 311 to report anything from a leaky fire hydrant, burnt-out streetlamp, graffiti, a missing manhole cover, missing signs, broken parking meters, etc.

There’s a new iPhone app out, SeeClickFix, which allows users to report issues right from their phones, complete with geotag to provide the map location of the problem.

This app would be totally great for those of us who eitehr live or work downtown in the winters to report the large number of potholes that sometimes form.

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Ok, I have to admit it, I have a real weakness for ice cream and fresh made fudge. When I lived in Sarasota, Florida, one of my favorite places to visit at St. Armand’s Circle, was Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream. Without fail, there was always a line to get into this place, and on some busy weekend nights, that’s a good 15 to 20 minute wait, but well worth it.

Opportunity: Kilwins Chocolates & Ice Cream

Business Case: I don’t think I’m unique in there’s nothing better than a good cup of ice cream. Kilwins has some outstanding flavors and if ice cream isn’t your thing, then there’s always the homemade fudge and other candies that you can watch them make right there in the store.

Kilwin’s started in northern Michigan in 1947, and has earned a reputation for its quality products and excellent service. They use only the finest and freshest ingredients and they franchise currently has over 50 locations throughout the US. Now it’s time for Des Moines residents to try some of these great treats. Trust me, you will find yourself coming back again and again. Downtown has no other ice cream venues, so competition is next to none.

Suggested location: The East Village, preferably somewhere on Locust Street. This would grab the local residents, State Office works, and those eating or shopping in the Village. Kilwins are generally located in a walking district where you can grab some ice cream and window shop other retail outlets around. In both Sarasota and Ft Lauderdale, the stores are always busy especially on summer weekend evenings.

This week, it was announced that residents of Black Hawk County can now text their requests for fire, police, or ambulance, to the 911 emergency call center in Black Hawk County, Iowa. This is being hailed as both a nationwide first and a definite improvement for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents who have thus far had to rely on TDD devices. Readers should not that, unlike voice calls, however, the 911 operator can’t get your location from a text message, meaning that the caller must first respond to a request for their city or zip code before the call gets routed.

Currently, only T-Mobile subscribers can use the service, but plans are to bring other carriers on board quickly. Other future upgrades include the ability to accept video and picture messages. All the operators ask is that you refrain from sending them those silly chain text messages — that sort of thing can be really distracting when you’re busy saving lives.

What I’m asking is if a small county like Black Hawk (Waterloo) can do this, why would the most populous county, Polk County (Des Moines) not be all over this setting a new standard not only in Iowa, but for the US. At least hopefully those in charge here in the Des Moines area will catch up soon.